Hello friends,
Today I wanted to chat about fitness. It’s often been a sore topic for me and I have never been the type of person that has particularly loved any form of working out. It has always felt like a chore and something to stress over, even if I could see benefits both mentally and physically - I just never found anything that I was actively looking forward to doing no matter what I tried. I’m sure this is a problem many of you have also experienced.
One example of a failed workout endeavour was over a year ago, when I decided to start the BBC app initiative ‘Couch to 5k’, which confidently claims that if the app is followed strictly, any person of any fitness level will be capable of running a 5k (the equivalent of half an hour of movement), in 9 weeks. The app introduces running extremely slowly, the first session being only 1 minute runs with regular cool downs. It’s easy to turn your nose up at starting so small, but the app urges that completing all runs is necessary, whilst also rightly highlighting that running for 1 minute is a daunting task to an inexperienced runner. The app is divided into mini podcasts (three runs a week) that you must play in your ears as you run, and you get the choice of multiple BBC personalities and athletes that will voiceover your workout. I picked Jo Whiley, who may have the most soothing and encouraging voice in the world.
The reason this was initially a failed endeavour is because I only made it to week 5 when I first tried the app. Whilst keeping to it as best I could, I was back and forth from home and uni at the time, and hadn’t found a running route in my uni home of London that made me really want to get out there. Whilst lockdown has encouraged me to walk a lot more, I was definitely feeling like this was a perfect time to finally restart the app and get some running into my routine too - I definitely have the time for it now! I am also very lucky that at home in Liverpool there is a park literally at the end of my road. I had the motivation, and a route ready to go.
So, almost 6 weeks ago now, I restarted the app at square one. Having noticed an increase in my fitness simply by walking lots in lockdown and getting a good amount of steps in each day, it did feel insulting starting back at those 1 minute runs with 90 second breaks. However, swallowing my pride, I have been following the three runs each week to the letter and slowly increasing my abilities as a distance runner. This week marks the surpassing of what I reached in my last attempt at the app, and I was thrilled to have ran non-stop for 20 minutes at the end of last week and on course to run 25 minutes at the end of this week, feeling less out of breath and fitter than ever. It feels like a real achievement and I felt amazing after reaching this milestone.
The genius of the app is the slow incline of difficulty, and the praise you hear in your ears when your voiceover tells you the time is up. They don’t talk too much, only offering time updates and helpful hints along the way; managing a stitch for example, or how to control your speed. There are countless success stories that have come from the initiative if you do your research, and I am so excited to complete the programme and get to that non-stop 5k mark and add to that list. I have, hopefully, found my preferred form of exercise, and plan to keep up the three 5ks per week after I reach that initial end goal. This definitely isn’t something you complete and never do again - it would be such a waste of a massive increase of fitness and endurance.
I have never had a good relationship with running. Trudging through the underwhelming vistas of Princes Park during my school years, in very unattractive green joggers, arriving at my next lesson red and wheezing, is all I had to go on when it came to my running experience. Now, I have a little more of a success story, and this is my way of making myself accountable that I will complete the app by the end (or supposed end) of lockdown, and continue thereafter.
I want to be transparent and say that my new-found motivation to re-visit this fitness plan is related to my want to lose some weight. I haven’t felt happy or connected to what I see in the mirror for a long time and running is slowly beginning to help that - though my good and bad days with body image still look very different from each other. Regarding COVID, none of us are as busy, or living how we usually would, so it makes sense that people just aren’t feeling themselves, regardless of weight.
I don’t think talking about that side of things anymore is relevant, and I wouldn’t want anyone who looks similar to or larger than myself to feel as though they should feel uncomfortable in how they look and that they should be running too. The main thing I want to emphasise in discussing this app is its inclusivity - that anyone can give running a go and anyone can improve their fitness, irregardless of why you feel you want to. Furthermore, the mental benefits of exercise have long been a proven fact. I can’t recommend the app enough (sponsor me BBC lmao).
There’s very little at the moment to enjoy or look forward to, so to finally have something to keep me going is a huge relief for my mental well-being. I absolutely love having plans and waking up with a schedule, so at least during these unhappy times I know I have three runs a week in my plans haha. That’s the main reason I wanted to discuss the app. I definitely do not want to be promoting fitness in an unhealthy or triggering way. But, if you are feeling stuck and without a purpose right now, maybe give this one a go. If you hate it, then that is totally fine.
That’s all on that folks, I hope anyone feeling a bit stuck may be encouraged to try something new like The Couch to 5k. It has definitely been a necessary decision for me!
H x
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